WAUKESHA
- As soon as the Hammer of the Gods strikes again in the latest Led
Zeppelin project fans get a whole lot to love.

Jimmy
Page, guitarist for the band and also its producer for much of its
recording career that spanned a little more than a decade, has again
remastered the first three albums of the Zep catalog, but in this
project includes a companion disc for each, containing the true gems
that make for the real draw here. Language on the jacket of the
companion CDs says the material “presents a portal to the time of
the recording of Led Zeppelin. It is a selection of work in progress,
with rough mixes, backing tracks, alternate versions and new material
recorded at the time.” That gives an accurate description of what
awaits the listener, and pretty much in that order: lots of rough
mixes, some alternate tracks and a few things most Zep fans probably
have never heard, no matter how many bootlegs they’ve acquired over
the years.

Paris
concert

The
companion disc for the first album is completely drawn from a Paris
concert of Oct. 10, 1969. Less than a year after the first album was
recorded, and mere couple of weeks before the second was released,
this concert includes material from both. Highlights of this bonus
material include the medley of “Good Times Bad Times/Communication
Breakdown,” as well as a version of “Dazed and Confused” that
clocks in at almost exactly 15 minutes - relatively curt compared to
the 25-minute marathons the song was to become in concert. It can be
easy to forget decades later that Zeppelin was a legendary live band,
and the Parisians in the audience that night heard firsthand a
Zeppelin hallmark - the ability to go from a studio song to a musical
maelstrom that sounds more like barely controlled chaos before the
group climbs down from that tangent to bring it all home, the
light-shade interplay that became pro forma in many a rock band to
follow. Such ear-opening fury is found in “How Many More Times,”
which closes both the original album and companion disc.

The
extra material on “Led Zeppelin II” is mostly rough mixes - songs
missing a guitar overdub here, an echo there, or having the vocals
delivered in a slightly different way than what we’ve been used to
after 40 years of listening to the studio LP versions - or completely
lacking altogether on many tracks. “Whole Lotta Love” is one such
example, delivering the music almost completely the same as the
original, but with a different vocal treatment and some of the
theremin overdubs missing. The vocals on this edition also are more
evocative of Willie Dixon’s version that Zep covered in the first
place. The “Moby Dick” on this disc all but eliminates the drum
solo that took upmuch of
the original song’s time, but its treatment in the Paris concert on
the first disc more than makes up for it. And lest one feels that the
Zep II “bonus material” is largely little more than leftovers, the
addition by subtraction yields the experience of hearing old songs in
a new way. And “La La,” an instrumental, leaves one wondering why
we haven’t heard it until now.

Disc
feeds hunger

The
companion disc on the third album also sates the aficionado’s
hunger, containing the most “new” stuff of the three albums. A
remixed “Immigrant Song” still conjures visions of conquering
marauders despite being stripped down a notch. The version of “Since
I’ve Been Loving You” here represents probably the most
significant departure from the studio tracks of all three of the
albums, with different lyrics, vocal treatment and guitar work, almost
to the point that it seems to be born again. The previously unheard
“Jennings Farm Blues” is listed as “a rough mix of all guitar
overdubs that day” but an electrified “Bron-Y-Aur Stomp,”
otherwise missing from the companion disc, is instantly recognizable.
And “Key to the Highway/Trouble In Mind” sees Zeppelin at its
roots, reconfiguring traditional blues into a powerhouse creation all
its own.

All
told, the bonus materials included in the rereleases give a fresh, new
look into the band’s evolution, enough to give even the diehard fan
some new material to digest. The rest of the Zeppelin catalog is
expected to receive similar treatment as subsequent albums are
rereleased. If those albums get the supporting soundtrack that the
first three got here, well, that’s the way it ought to be.